EVERETT — The recession has dramatically changed the way businesses and individuals give money to charitable causes in Snohomish County.
That was the report from officials at a variety of local nonprofit groups who got together last weekend at a session aimed at looking for ways to raise money to save the historic Collins Building on the city’s waterfront.
Most said times are tough for fundraisers these days, especially for agencies seeking money for capital projects as opposed to programs to help people.
“The days are dwindling for companies giving unrestricted donations,” said Ed Zapora of United Way of Snohomish County. “The Boeing and Gates foundations are both no longer providing capital grants like they used to. They’re more interested in funding specific programs with specific outcomes, not capital projects.”
Zapora said people want to help the community “the best they can,” but that fundraising efforts in Everett have become “extra challenged” in recent months.
Nancy Johnson of the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett said her agency is trying to raise $5 million for capital projects and has $1.3 million left to go.
“Donations take longer and are smaller,” she said, noting that many businesses that she calls “the gatekeepers” are now gone because of the bad economy.
Just this spring, Frontier Bank and City Bank, both based in the county, were closed by regulators and sold to new owners.
Johnson said donors now are demanding that an agency have a provable record of raising funds and using them well.
“They expect you to be passionate and they demand you to be smart,” she said. “They want proof that you can be sustainable. They want to see reserves in your projects, too.”
Johnson added that agencies can’t just drop by and expect immediate donations.
“There’s not a lot of money uncovered in Snohomish County,” she said. “There is money, but it takes years to cover it.
“Anything’s possible if you’re willing to work for it, but it’s a whole new world out there right now.”
Randy Petty, the chief development office for Providence Medical Center’s new tower in Everett, said he expects to raise $15 million by the time the facility opens and another $10 million later.
But he said that any project from $500,000 to $50 million requires initial feasibility studies and a dedicated team of supporters. He said his 50 of so volunteers “are 90 percent of the battle.”
Mary Fears, of Habitat for Humanity in Snohomish County, also talked about the importance of feasibility studies to find out where the money is coming from.
“The economic crash of 2008 is really a demarcation,” she said. “It is not going to be like it has in the past. To make things work, you can’t use the traditional model.”
She said fundraisers these days “need to be a little bit wacky” to find different ways and locations to raise money.
Ed Peterson, of Housing Hope of Snohomish County, said his group has created offshoots to gather grants and donations from a variety of sources.
“The economy is a big factor that has affected the whole community of fundraising,” he said. “Donors are interested in projects that are fiscally viable and projects that are controversial have more difficulty getting funds.”
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